illiawile - zerg killer
by rnc
Summary: Two of Blizzard's best games... a Diablo II / starcraft cross-over.. if you've ever wondered how a necromancer fares against zergs, please review if you feel it's worth continuing.
1. The waiting

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disclaimer - no copyright infringement is meant... all are property of blizzard, both from diablo and starcraft  
  
Illiawile is my character in Diablo II  
  
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Sir Illiawile  
  
I. The waiting  
  
The bright sun reflected off a half shattered shield, while mud and dirt collected on the sides as it was dragged on the ground by illiawile. He had a long journey, he had travelled to the depths of hell and had defeated the Lord of Terror himself. He dropped the jagged and worn out shield and sat down on the grassy plains wondering why he was not more glad it was over.  
Then thoughts rushed back to a face, a sweet yet tortured face. Someone who never should've taken the journey to hell. No armor in the world could've protected him from the pain of the memory. He now stood up... "snap out of it, Illiawile...", he desperate tried to make himself forget.   
He was a lanky, confused, yet talented necromancer. You couldn't tell by looking at him right now that he was skilled; His mind seemed like it was always somewhere else. The last few months he had been reading an ancient scroll. It had driven him to travel back to the cold plains where a dimensional portal would open between two worlds. He never believed prophecies much, even though he was a necromancer. But the scroll had been uncanny in it's previous predictions. "An evil greater than the one vanquished will sprout from this portal if it is not sealed", Illiawile repeated to himself for the hundreth time that day. "What do I have to lose", he was almost at the place where the portal should appear. He was somehow disappointed that it wasn't already there, he hated waiting. Waiting meant thinking, and thinking meant memories.  



	2. The first corpse

II. The first corpse  
  
Many nights had fallen and the lone necromancer hadn't even bothered to setup camp. Sleep never came easy either way.... "Cursed prophecies..", Illiawile half convincing muttered. It was then that the earth began trembling and the air became a few degrees cooler. He stood up as he watched a bright collection of energy form together into a portal. His intense glare soon met w/ a ones which were equally as terrifying. "strange looking spike fiend", illiawile confidently stammered. The hydralisk fired a projectile. The necromancer side-stepped and caught the spike with one hand and casted a bone prison in time before the hydralisk could pounce forward. He walked up to the hydralisk and impaled it with it's own spike. It still looked up at him as if it wanted to eat him. The look was taken away by the necromancer as he mutilated the eyes of this hydralisk. This blow finally made it fall... Prayers from the teachings of Rathma began filling the air. The hydralisk began taking new form, until it was revived. "you'd make a nice pet, I think I'll name you spikee", Illiawile humored himself.  
His face became stern and contemplative once again as he stared at the portal. "The soul that enters the portal will seal the portal but be trapped forever trapped in it". Illiawile thought about it for a second and picked up his shield saying, "what do I have to live for anyways". He follows the prophecy and enters the portal forever sealing himself on the other side.  



	3. Zerg Killers

III. Zerg killers  
  
On the doomed planet of Chi' Sara, there fought valiant protoss and terran coalitions against an inconcievable amount of zerg. Certain protoss and terran coaltions had formed after they realized how much strategic advantage this gave them. However, any strategical advantage always gives way to pure numbers.  
Zel'xol a fearless carrier pilot had been fighting days on end trying to maintain the last front. He's seen both protoss and terran allies mutilated by a never ending wave of zerg. "Ultralisk!", he yells at a collection of marines right below him. The interceptors refocused their attack to the charging ultralisk. The marines were baffled to see that this ultralisk charged a missle turret instead of them while it was blown up to shreds by the interceptors. "stupid zerg", mocked one of the marines. As soon as turret exploded from the previous attack, spikes from the ground launched upwards and tore to shreds the marines in a matter of seconds. Zel'xol watched helplessly as he couldn't target the source of the spikes. He retreated as more and more ground support was lost.  
On the other side of the front, a ghost soldier was inspecting her sniper rifle. She was almost giddy at the thought of action. She looked down from at the battlefield from the protoss transport and thought to herself, "it might be a good day to die". She then signalled to be dropped off, "Antaru Adun", she yelled as she jumped out of the transport.  
  
"take care Elissa, you are a true protoss at heart", yelled the transport pilot.  
  
Elissa, was not an ordinary ghost soldier, she was psychotic but pretty. She even kept a zergling as a pet (from a battle), and tormented it. No one was sure whether she did it out of just being bored or some twisted inner psychosys.  
  
Elissa saw that the zerg were in the midst of an ultralisk rush. They seem to be going for the turrets. She realized immediately that they were going to try to take them out with lurkers. She took aim and sniped the ultralisk in their most vulnerable location between the eyes. It took about three shots per ultralisk and they fell. The lurkers then became visible but were taking out the ground units at a vicious pace nonetheless. But within seconds Zel'xol and his interceptors had appeared over the lurkers and wiped them out. "good shooting terran", echoed Zel'xol.  
  
Elissa didn't even respond as she was intently listening to the tremor like sounds from the ground. She knew then that the zerg counter strike would be a pure hydralisk/zergling rush. "Rush", she yelled to everyone.  
  
Zel'xol's eyes glowed and elissa rifle stood steady as a wave of screams filled the air and rows upon rows of zerg came charging. They were almost stumbling on top of each other.   
Just as the wave of doom impended, they saw a great wall of bones pile up all around them. "What is going on", stammered Elissa. She raised her scope to view the strange occurances in the distance.   
  
There stood a man, or was it a protoss, his eyes were glowing blue energy, and he didn't show any fear as millions of zerg surrounded him. He raised his wand and from the air flames came together to form a towering mass. It had arms and legs and where eyes should've been was only blue flame. The heat it eminated was piercing, even through elissa's sniper scope... the zergs rushed the man and the flaming mass but from what elissa could see, it looked like the zergs dissintegrated as soon as they came near the golem and the man.  
  
Illiawile had casted iron maiden all around... as soon as the zerg bore even a scratch on his armor or even fry their carapace on the golem, they'd feel their own attack 1000 times over. Corpses fell every second... but the necromancer was still bored by this. Then the corpses began exploding, sending violent bursts of death all around. It seemed like a chain reaction. One zerg would fall, that corpse would explode and create 100 more corpses. Then those 100 would make 10000 more... After awhile corpses fell by the millions every second. The frenzy of the explosions raised an emotion inside elissa that she hadn't felt in awhile, fear. She had never seen this many corpses blended in together, and a zergling/hydralisk rush annihilated in not so much as a minute. Suddenly, a foul stench enter her nose, the corpses meshed together left a very unpleasant smell. Elisa tried very hard not to vomit from it like all the rest of the marines around her had already done.  
  
Illiawile walked over the former corpses, as if it were a red carpet welcoming his entrance into this dimension.  
  
Elisa saw the scence as if it were the devil himself mimicking jesus walking on water, except this was the blood. She felt no good could come from his presence. She aimed her sniper rifle at him, but the rifle was held back by zel'xol's warp blade. Don't destroy what you don't understand... he might be one of the Xel'naga.. Zel'xol had abandoned his carrier to view this occurence first hand.  
  
"He's comming for us and he doesn't look like he's come to shake hands", Elissa screamed urgently.  
  
The marines raised their gauss rifles at the necromancer out of fear. Illiawile saw that the Zerg were attacking these metal clad monsters that were aiming some weapon at him. He quickly decrepified the marines, making them see their mortality, aging them so much within seconds that each movement they made became extremely labored. Elissa upon seeing this knocked Zel'xol back with the butt of her rifle, cloacked herself and rushed forward to swiftly strike down this demon. Illiawile sensed what was happenning and fired bone spirits at the cloacked Elissa. The spirits haunted it's target to no ends until it had inflicted its terror upon it. Elissa watched horrified as these spirits chased her even at her cloacked state.  
  
"STOP!!", yelled Zel'xol, but the necromancer was now standing over Elissa who had been struck down by the spirits. He held out his dagger pointing at her but was shocked to see after her mask had fallen that she was but another human. Elissa, now barely able to move, looked fiercely at Illiawile ready to meet death head on. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were...", was all that escaped Illiawile before he saw Zel'xol charging at him at god speed. Before he could react in time, he was knocked down and a warp blade was held to his head. "Stop fighting...", Zel'xol said, as if Illiawile had a choice now. "I didn't cut off your head this time. because you saved our lives. But don't expect the favor again."  



	4. The thickening

IV. The thickening  
  
Zel'xol took Illiawile into his ship and placed him into a psionic cage. "This should hold him even though we know not what powers he may hold", Zel'xol was satisfied it seemed. Elissa didn't seem content by this as she seemed to want to torture him. She was still bitter even after being attended to by the medics. Illiawile was extremely confused, he wasn't sure if these people were friend or foe. He could've easily escaped and destroyed everything around but decided to be silent and just observe.  
  
Elisa hesitated but then proceeded to telepathically probe Illiawile's mind. She never liked how ghosts could just intrude on the privacy of a person's mind. However, this case seemed to call for that special skill. Elissa's eyes grew wide as she began. Illiawile seemed to not even flinch as she began probing. The torture that Elissa thought she could inflict by stealing all of his memory backfired as she collapsed from all the images that spew forth. "If you want to know where I'm from, you should just ask", Illiawile was very non-chalant. "It might be safer for you that way", but Elissa still look horrified as she never had been before in her life. Zel'xol took his turn to mentally connect with Illiawile. They transfered basic information... he was from a different dimension, he was not Xel'naga. He was from a place called Lut Gloheim... he came through a dimensional warp gate that is now sealed. This was all that Zel'xol could gather before he began seeing images of pure evil. Spirits from the dead returning to take with them the living. Even Zel'xol couldn't venture further as there were many things there that were frightening, maybe just because he couldn't comprehend them.  
  
Just then, a transmission came over com saying that backup support will not be available for the next zerg rush. "What??!", Zel'xol was indignant. How could they just leave an entire colony to die. Before they could finish their thoughts, a mutalisk hits the carrier, sending all the interceptors out to automatically defend the ship. "Well, nothing more we can do but fight to the death, I'll be seeing you in hell.", Elissa said having recovered from the images in Illiawile's mind. "I'll take you sometime if you really want", Illiawile silently laughed to himself.  
  
Zergs, protoss and terrans all fighting for domination of the universe. This seemed like a scale even larger than Illiawile had been accustomed to. He began to absorb everything that was around him. The intricate uses of materials and metals of great power, far greater than even the artifacts of the horadrim. Well, maybe, he figured he still had a lot to learn about the various weapons the species of this dimension used.  
  
The ship trembled as Illiawile saw flying bats colliding right into the ship and exploding. Illiawile saw he needed to do something quick, and began casting a wide radius of bone armor around the carrier. The armor took most of the heap of the collision damages but the ship was getting into really bad shape. "saving us again, even though you're locked up", Zel'xol said while he freed Illiawile from his prison. "if you can do that from in there, then you're obviously just humoring us by sitting there." Zel'xol looked at Illiawile and they not had a mutual respect for each other.  
  
"get off your lazy butt and shoot down some zerg", Elissa added. As the air blackened all around them, not from darkness but from a cloud of mutalisks.  
  
High above the Chi' Sara star system, a heavily encryted communication was going through. "The colony is almost wiped out by the Zerg"... Hmm... Lt. Mareg slowly contemplated. Will our objective be complete so easily...   
Lt. Mareg was involved in a confederacy plot to destroy any terran colonies that were "polluted" by protoss influence. They felt that ever since the zerg's main forces were now obliterated, now was the time to make sure that the terrans would be the only dominating universal power. Terrans naturally feared the protoss. It was human history and nature. "The new cold war, interesting...", as Mareg thought back to all his ancient civilization books.  
  
However, they were wrong about the zerg... a mysterious overmind laughs, and waits to see the outcome of the betrayals... Waiting for just the right time of weakness to strike a fatal blow to both terran and protoss worlds.  



	5. The foul smell

V. The foul smell  
  
Zel'xol retreated his carrier further and further back into the last bastion of missle turrets that were still intact. "I don't like the smell of all this".. The poignant smell was indeed there but Elissa knew what he meant, she realized that the situation looked too much like they were being setup to die. "let's not die yet", Elissa bitterly said... "let's find the bastards who let this happen". Zel'xol nodded and turned on the thrusters to full on the carrier. It ascended into space as he called all the remaining carriers and ships around him to follow. The arbitrer flew over all their ships masking their escape from the doomed colonies.   
  
Illiawile was getting sick from the acceleration. He had never felt the sensation before... as everything around him started becoming blurry. He was trying very hard not to throw up. The carrier was now nearing the edge of Chi'Sara's atmosphere, down below the zerg had already complete overrun the colony. Luckily the arbitrer had done a good job in hiding their mass exodus. Suddenly, the arbitrer was taken down by a yamato canon just as they reached orbit. Illiawile couldn't hold on to his focus any longer, the bone armor fell apart, and he threw up all over the floor of the carrier.   
  
A fleet of battle cruisers were in front ready to meet them head on. All this came together so quickly, all Zel'xol could do was punch in the orders to his comrades to scatter and distract the fleet. At the same time, the zerg began tracking them from behind. Amidst all this, Elissa was laughing, she thought it somehow comical during this dire moment that Illiawile would throw up over space sickness... to think he could stomach the great stench of corpses back on Chi'Sara'. Illiawile gave a sickly geture back at the girl who was mocking him.  
  
"Stupid Terrans....", Zel'xol muttered.   
  
"What's the status", Elissa getting serious again.  
  
"5 battle cruisers, yamato cannon class B, 8 wraith fighters, and 2 valkeries", Zel'xol looked a little concerned, "but there's about 30 mutalisks, and 5 scourges who are on our tail now."  
  
Illiawile looked out into space... the closest he had been to a place such as this was the arcane sanctuary. But now was not the time for these thoughts, "I'll take the winged beasts, you take care of those things in front", Illiawile tentatively said after gathering himself up from the floor.   
  
"focus on the terran fleet ahead", ordered Zel'xol over the comm channel.  
  
Six corsairs and 5 wraiths engaged the battle cruisers while Elissa engaged lockdown rounds. Interceptors from their battlecruiser distracted the enemy wraiths and valkeries. Illiawile decrepified the mutalisks and launched multiple bone spirits. Each corpse that was made in space was revived and sent to charge the enemy fleet as well. These revived creatures proved to be too much for the enemy fleet, as the revived mutalisks carried with them a ferociousness and speed that no wraith fighter had been trained to fight against.  
  
The last battlecruiser was locked down, and Zel'xol opened a comm channel to them. "Who's behind this!!", Elissa demanded threateningly to the battlecruiser captain. "I die if I say and I die if I don't", the old captain said as if he were already a ghost. Then this brain exploded violently as his neural implant was given an overload signal.  
  
There was no where to go now, but to hide.   
  
Illiawile was now cleaning his puke from the floor. Although there was nothing more he could do about the foul smell. 


	6. Zerg air lines

VI. Zerg Air lines  
  
Bluish hazel orbs filled the air... beasts that were lurking in the shadows vanished into these frozen orbs. A blurred face was comming into focus. From her voice came a song... It pierced whatever it was inside of him, more painful than any wound he ever bore.  
  
Illiawile opened his eyes... he had been sleeping for awhile in a strange looking cavern. Elissa was in the hall whistling that strange tune that pierced him in his dreams. He got up physically but his mind was still dwelling, as it always dwelled on that memory.  
  
However, Illiawile was actually being distracted from his memories by getting acquainted to this dimension. He realized that he had alot of catching up to do if he wanted to figure out what everthing meant. He followed Elissa in the hallway to a place where she had a numerous amount of metalic instruments setup. He sat infront of what she called a television, it intrigued him greatly.   
  
"Don't tell me you've never seen one of these," Elissa mockingly asked.. "We have something similar, we have portals where you speak and see people from far away places".. Illiawile replied.  
  
Elissa sighs and feels it totally hopeless to try to explain it to him. She begins to get up and walking away but Illiawile stops her, saying... "I'll figure out what everything is in due time.. what I want to ask you is...".  
  
There was a pause.. "that song... you whistled." "It hurts..."  
  
Before Illiawile could finish his head met with a hard blow from a sofa cushion. "So what if I'm out of tune!", Elissa yelled at him...   
  
"Our fleet is almost in protoss air space," Zel'xol announced over comm. "We will attempt to find a place to set up base so that we can figure out what to do." Zel'xol sees a planet that seemed like it still had some minerals left, but not enough to attract anyone's attention. He orders the fleet's decent into this unknown world. After their landing, they walk around trying to find a most suitable place for a base w/ some minerals when they stumble accross a wreckage of a former protoss/terran base. "It happenned even here?", Zel'xol pondered. There lay many remains of his bretheren, mutilated beyond recognition. He began burning inside. Then it crossed Zel'xol's mind... so this is why the leaders no longer send reinforcements to them.   
  
"We are being wiped out. The terrans want to destroy my race," Zel'xol was deeply angered by that thought. How dare those terrans believe that they can overrun the protoss. Terrans don't stand a chance against Protoss!! Elissa had overheard this walking into the bridge on the carrier... "Now why would we want to do that"... "we've been allies fighting the zerg for so long". Zel'xol countered, "but the zerg are no more, which to you primitive species means that we are no longer allies." Elissa stared menacingly back, "who is primitive here?"   
  
Illiawile just stood there confused, "we are all on the same side, we are stronger when we fight side by side" I learned this lesson long ago. We necromancers despised all the other races that we met ( amazons, paladins, barabarians... especially barbarians ) on our journey to destroy the evil in our world. But once we realized that it takes all of us together to break evil, evil as strong as such... only then was the evil broken.  
  
Zel'xol calmed down by now... "Elissa... no harm was meant.. we are allies." Elissa replied, "it's ok, I don't take things too seriously." Illiawile was relieved to see the tension ease a little, but watching the devoured base below somehow didn't make him feel too serene. "I don't think we are alone", muttered Illiawile. "what do you mean? There's absolutely nothing on the scanners," Zel'xol logically explained. "Well, we have no observers or science facilities with us do we?" Elissa curtly countered.  
  
By this time, they had finally touched down and their fleets have secured the area. SCV's and probes began deploying and setting up camp. There weren't too much minerals so they had to choose their structures strategically. Luckily there were terran add-on's left behind and a few pylons here and there that were still functional.  
  
However, as soon as the first missle turret was erected, the sensors flashed with a billion dots on the ground. The cannons that were setup automatically began firing at the burrowed creatures, waking them up rudely from their afternoon nap. "oops, huh" Elissa mocked to Zel'xol. Illiawile readied his wand and was ready to begin another zerg massacre when Zel'xol stopped him. "There's also about 100000 mutalisks descending above us in 10 minutes" "if we stay and fight here, we'll get hacked to death from above".   
  
Illiawile stared at the broken colonies as the ship began to lift off... right then, he saw two emerald eyes that looked too familiar. It peered out to him from a crack on top of a missle turret. "Mina....." Illiawile splattered from his desperate voice. Before Zel'xol or Elissa could even ask what he just said, Illiawile had punched a hole through the carrier hatch and jumped out of the ship. "What!?!"... Elissa looked down the rummaged hatch watchin Illiawile run like never before...  
  
"We have to get out of here", Zel'xol looked at the scanner, "9 minutes before we get hit from above." Elissa stared down watching at the lines forming from the unburrowing zergs, and then she looked at the sky, it had become dark by now. Lines of Zerg mutalisks had blanketed them, as if the hand of god ready to carry them away.  
  
  



	7. arboreal

VII. Arboreal hedgehogs  
  
"Can't let him have all the fun", Elissa instinctively leap through the crack while cloacking herself at the same time. Zel'xol thought about turning back and helping them but then realized that he had to lead the fleet to safety. "Stupid Terrans", Zel'xol said unconvincingly.  
Time seemed to stand still as Illiawile ran frantically to get to that missle turret. Countless zerglings and hydralisks had poped up and charged after him, only to be cut down by their own strike from the iron maiden. The bone armor spun majestically around the necromancer as he danced around all the unburrowing creatures. Soon a golem appeared out the air following right behind him... then corpses came back to life to serve him. He was almost within arms reach of the missle turret when a spike from the ground came up and went through his shoulder. He was so blinded by those emerald eyes that he didn't see the attack comming. As he fell he fired off bone spirits to track down the offender, but before the lurker could be finished off it sent another spike attack and this time sending excruciating pain through his left knee. He lay there bloodied on the ground while his minions tried to protect him.   
  
"never thought I'd have to use this again", he pulled out an amulet and wore it around his neck. Soon the wounds began to rapidly heal themselves. He got up, ignored the pain, and hobbled up the missle turret. What his eyes revealed to him sent mixed emotions to his heart. There lay huddled in the crack, a woman in white clothing, with a red cross on the front of her armor. She was craddling a child in her arms, it seemed like it was dead for it didn't make a single sound despite the deafening screams all around them. Syringes lay all across their quarter as well as the stench of decaying corpses.   
  
Illiawile felt in his heart, the great void returning, as this woman paladin was definitely not Mina. It couldn't have been, he knew very well, since Mina was no more. "Are you the devil taking us to hell now", the woman asked, devoid of any emotion. She spoke as if she were in a nightmare which she could never awake from.   
  
Words failed Illiawile, but it didn't matter because all sound was trampled out by the footsteps of advancing ultralisks. He came closer towards her, but she cringed away. Then out of nowhere, Elissa appeared as she decloacked right below them. "Don't worry, he's harmless like a baby", Elissa yelling up to the woman. "A medic out here... strange". Her curiousity was interrupted by a transmission from Zel'xol. "A wraith pilot has volunteered to go down there. He should be decloacking anytime now." It decloacked indeed but sooner than it was supposed to, it was about a mile away when it became abruptly visible. An overlord hanged right over it, just a few feet away. At the sight of this, Elissa ran towards the wraith... Illiawile now grabbed the medic, jumped off the turret, ordered his minions to charge the ultralisks, and ran right behind Elissa. Hundreds of zerglings poped up in front of them charging straight at them. There was no time to waste fighting them for the wraith pilot was getting hammered by hydralisks. With the child still craddled in one arm, the medic threw numerous flares at the creatures, blinding them instantly. Illiawile saw what she was doing and cast dim vision on all the ranged fighters. They were able to reach the pilot in time and crammed into the wraith fighter. As soon as everyone was in, the wraith blasted off before any of the surrounding ground forces could regain their vision.  
  
Illiawile should've been relieved but the intense vertical acceleration in the wraith was even worse than the carrier moving into space. He felt that odd sensation again, as he looked down below to where his minions were still battling blow... within seconds they were just dots. He made a heaving noise but held all the matter in... "I swear I'll kill you right now if you puke all over us", Elissa said disgusted. The pilot swiftly handed Illiawile a bag and he peacefully threw up in it.  
  
As they reboarded the carrier, Illiawile sat exhausted at the bridge. However, he could feel but sickened by the tale the woman was sharing. Her name was Melinda Karros, she was the medic for the colony. She was caring for the child in her arms right now when the colony was hit hard with a zerg rush. "There were millions of them, but we were barricaded well" Melinda spoke as if these memories were not her own, "The battle was at a stand still when we heard a broadcast". Lt. Canter told us that reinforcements were arriving to help us hold off the zerg. But, what they dropped was not help but rather, it was a nuke. They took out many of our main structures. After that, the zerg easily came in and destroy the base.  
  
"How did you escape?", Zel'xol, Illiawile and Elissa quizically asked...  
  
"There was a crack on top of a wrecked turret. I took whatever supplies I had and carried this baby with me to hide up there. But it wouldn't stop crying, so I had to feed it sedatives. It's been sleeping for a week now, I don't even know if it will wake up anymore."   
  
Somehow, Melinda was beginning to show some emotion again. The nightmare was finally her reality. She craddled the baby in her arms as she softly teared.  
  
They had finally reached space, and didn't have to fight but just a few stray mutalisks along the way. Melinda was now passed out from exhaustion. Illiawile stood over her watching how she held the lifeless doll of a baby in her arms. He gently wrenched the baby from her, and craddled it. He took it down the hall as if to show him the stars. Elissa watched this strange sight with a slight sprinkling interest. Illiawile carried the baby with great care even though he knew it was already dead, communing with it in a way only a necromancer could.  
  
"Sleep easy"...  



	8. belonging

VIII. Belonging  
  
Melinda woke up after a long sleep. She slept so soundly that she could easily convince herself that it was all but a nightmare. But the runned down mess of a quarter which was used as a guest room reminded her of where she was. She then looked down and realized that the baby was no longer in her arms. She jolted up, opened the door and her eyes met Illiawile's. It was a very solemn stare that greeted her, and she knew from his look instantly that the child would not see a future.  
  
The moment felt like an eternity as she closed the door and layed back down, maybe just to hide from reality once more. She felt suddenly so alone somehow, she felt like she couldn't be alone at that moment.   
  
Illiawile sat down outside turning on the TV, the broadcast pirates were on again, giving out gossip about the terran armies and leaders. From the hall emerged this young woman with eyes that seemed too old for her. "What are you doing still looking at that antique..?" Melinda said just to break the ice.. "Antique?", Illiawile was puzzled. "Those went extinct a long time ago, probably a collectors item now." Either way, Melinda sat down next to Illiawile and watched the pirate broadcast with him.  
  
Zel'xol was in the bridge receiving broadcasts from his bretheren in the nearby Protoss planets. He was receiving disturbing news, things which confirmed his suspicion about the terran conspiracy against the protoss. He also received news about an old acquaintance...   
  
Zel'xol announced over intercom to his terran friends, "I'm setting the ship to auto pilot for now, I'll be right back..."  
  
At that the three puzzled heads looked up from their respective locations and gave a befuddled look. The carrier lauch gate opened and Zel'xol rode out in a custom outfitted interceptor. Zel'xol made his way to the nearby planet of Chi'ran... where a warp gate was opened for him directly from the dark templar homelands.  
  
It was a strange sensation indeed to be back home. Zel'xol was so accustomed to seeing humans and having human friends that he felt somewhat out of place in his own world. However, greetings with his bretheren refreshed his spirit.  
  
"We have news about Milz'el", one of the zealots spoke...  
  
"I heard too, where is she now", Zel'xol curiously asked.  
  
"She had just finished a war meeting, she wanted you to wait for her at the templar archives"  
  
Zel'xol waited in the templar archives, collected his thoughts... Milz'el had shared his most intimate thoughts and moments with him. He also felt the greatest sorrow when they parted ways. He stared at the entrance and it seemed forever... until, there walked into the present the future he never had.  
  
She smiled at him, "it's been too long.." He smiled back, "yes"   
  
"We have not much time... we may not have another time again", Milz'el said softly  
  
"Time, it is all relative.., it is more than enough now", Zel'xol absorbed the moment to it's fullest.  
  
There was a long pause where life felt like nothing but just a pure flow of energy.  
  
"Before I go back, Milz'el... I would like to know was it just for the greater good?"  
  
Milz'el brought her head down... and finally let him connect with her psionically... and they exchanged thoughts.  
  
"Now I understand...", Zel'xol's spirit now wrenched and twisted... he held on to an old crystal he had been keeping. One which Milz'el had given him a long while back.  
  
"This means nothing?",... Zel'xol muttered..  
  
"nothing"... a reply shot him  
  
He simply smiled and walked out, and walked for what it seemed like for days. He contemplated the crystal and then threw it as far away as he could and headed back for the warp gate. Just as he was crossing it, he got a psionic farewell from Milz'el... "watch out for those terran animals". Zel'xol ignored this completely as he sped as quickly as he could for the carrier.   
  
This was the first time he was so glad to see Elissa laying lazily at her cot, aiming her rifle at imaginary targets... Illiawile and Melinda quietly watching the pirate broacast..   
  
"I'm back", Zel'xol announced..  
  
No reply greeted him as each head in the ship was quite zoned out doing it's own thing. Yet this seemed to give him a strange feeling of belonging. He felt at home.  
  
  
  



	9. true colors

IX. True Colors  
  
Melinda was sitting next to Illiawile again watching the ancient contraption infront of them, each half absorbed in themselves and half at the broadcast in front. "You know what...", Melinda broke the serene silence. "??", Illiawile just looked puzzled..   
  
"We need to get you some new things to wear", Melinda looked at his blood stained armor and clothing.  
  
"But this is all I have with me...", Illiawile protested  
  
"It's my job as a medic to make sure everyone is sanitary", Melinda said adamantly  
  
Against his will Illiawile went into his quarter and took off all his armor and clothing, and hid under his covers as Melinda collected the moldy items off the floor. Melinda seemed quite content with her conquest over his clothing as she threw them into their portable washer. Zel'xol walked by and looked at the various human contraptions scatter all about the halls... and then we happened to glance by the half naken Illiawile and then Melinda who was carrying his clothing away. Luckily protoss never thought anything of this... he just sighed over how messy his carrier had become ever since it became a virtual terran dormitory. Elissa walked by as well and the scene gave her a different impression, as she gave a dirty smile to Illiawile and Melinda. Illiawile had turned his pale face red while Melinda was just innocently smiling.  
  
Zel'xol was half-dazed when suddenly he received a psionic message from a nearby protoss carrier fleet. They were in an intense battle and needed help. Zel'xol quickly announced to everyone and the fleet that they were going to enter battle. Everyone then got up and rushed to the bridge. Elissa looked at Illiawile and handed him a standard issue space suit that she had, since all his clothing was dripping wet at the moment. Illiawile felt rather naked in the suit... not having all his armor... save for his amulets and rings.  
  
Zel'xol continued his psionic communication with the protoss carrier fleet. They were almost within visual range, but Zel'xol's face turned to one of shock as the psionic communication completed. He turned to his 3 comrades and spoke, "My bretheren, they are being attacked, by the terran army..." Everyone's face grew tense as they felt for the first time how alien they were to Zel'xol and his kind.   
  
"From now on this fleet is officially disbanded, head home, wherever that maybe..", Zel'xol announced over comm to the mixed terran-protoss fleet he had been commanding. He knew that this war wasn't one they should be fighting. He then looked at his three friends and asked them the inevitable. He said, "I believe this war is not for you either..."  
  
Elissa yelled back, "What do you mean! It's not like we can go back to the terran army, we'll be shot and killed for what we've done..."  
  
Illiawile chimed in, "I believe this is where we are all destined to be... I don't really have anywhere else to run to either way."  
  
Zel'xol was touched by his friends' convictions, yet he still wondered how well it would be received by his bretheren. To have Terrans fighting alongside them against Terrans. He knew there was great hatred against Terrans among his bretheren. Yet he couldn't move himself to push these three away, and somehow he believed if they proved themselves, they too would be taken in by his bretheren.  
  
"ok, but you will only engage in battle from this ship, and you are not to let any harm come to this carrier"....  
  
The battle was appearing on the screen... All eyes were focused upon it. Their stare only broken as a fleet of 3 scouts and 2 corsairs appeared in front of them, escorting them to the battle ground. "Take care... you can reach me through this.." Zel'xol handed them a communicator. He then proceeded to board his custom interceptor and boarded one of the scout fighter classes.   
  
Zel'xol psionically communicated with Illiawile... "I'll guide you through my psionic connection with you, you'll learn how to pilot the ship."  
  
Illiawile pondered for a moment why Zel'xol decided him over Elissa the telepath who was standing beside him looking totally perplexed by the situation. He figures it was just the way the Protoss viewed the female species. His ponderings quickly shaken as he felt the psionic connection again. He then swiftly grabbed the controls of the ship, connected with it, and steered it hard left. A beam of a Yamato blast surged right next to them barely missing the ship. Another blast came, and one of the protoss ships jumped infront of them to absorb the blast. The scout disintegrated into space, while the beam continued on its path and struck the side of the carrier. The damage was minimal as the scout had absorbed most of the damage. The interceptors were busy targetting between the two battlecruisers. The rest of the fleet also commenced firing on the two offenders.  
  
The battle raged on furiously, but Zel'xol did wonders w/ the protoss fleet given to him. Not only was he a good warrior but also a good general. He lured all the battlecruisers away from their main backup and sent the corsairs to take care of them. At the same time arbitrers cloacked their main fleet that was used to take out the backup terran squadrons. Eventually the terran fleet retreated, Zel'xol had single handedly turned the tide of the battle.   
  
Elissa, Melinda, and Illiawile sat down next to each other on the battle cruiser not certain what their fate would be, surrounded by an entire protoss fleet that had just been fighting furiously against terrans. Zel'xol seemed rather oblivious of their predicament as he ordered the carrier to set a course for a protoss homeworld.   
  
After they had landed on the protoss world, Zel'xol met them outside saying how grateful his bretheren would be for their help in the battle. Zel'xol was happy greeting his terran friends until he was pulled back by a pack of zealots and warp blades were held up to Illiawile. Melinda fell back in shock, while Elissa stood back and cloacked herself and ran back into the carrier. "Quickly, get an observer here..", one of the Zealots order to the others. "You dare betray those that have just aided us to victory?", Zel'xol screamed. It fell on deaf ears.. They were merely following orders. The situation was far worse than they had realized. Being confined together in a ship had made them blind to the hatred that had grown between terrans and protoss.  
  
Elissa was running and saw herself becoming visible again... "What?" she thought to herself. She heard footsteps chasing in behind her as she looked as one of the custom interceptors. If only she knew how to start one of those. She got in nonetheless... and opened the hatch of the carrier. As soon as she got the interceptor started she jumped out as it launched. She quickly hid behind a wall and watched as the interceptor blindly flew down and immediately met destruction by dragoons that were waiting. The zealots that were chasing after her stood by the open hatch speaking in a language she couldn't understand. She dared not venture into their minds lest revealing herself. But the mockery and laughter in their voices assured her that they had left her for dead.  
  
Illiawile watched the scenes before him progress as if it were in slow motion. The crashing flames of the interceptor reflected his inner most feelings as it reminded him of something dark within him. He held back his rage as the situation called for restraint. He told himself that Elissa wouldn't have perished so easily.   
  
They were taken hostage in a psionic cage while they awaited their judgement. Zel'xol gave a smirk to Illiawile as he knew that he wouldn't be held back by such a prison. He saw how Illiawile could've easy gotten out of one when he had cast it before, although this cage was held by templars who were stronger than Zel'xol. It was a contemplative moment as Zel'xol face showed the guilt he felt for what has become of his friends, and anger for the betrayal as the hands of his own bretheren. Melinda sense this however, and tried to comfort him, telling him that it was not his fault. Zel'xol wouldn't let the medic heal the wounds of his pride and emotion. He stood silent.... A silence which was finally broken by a pylon blowing up in the nearby perimeter.  
  
Elissa rejoiced as she was able to take out the central pylon powering the photon cannons. She then ran at a blazing speed towards the psionic cage. Illiawile sensed her comming and took aim at the templars who were powering the cage. The spirits escaped the prison since they were not of this dimension. They struck down the unsuspecting templars as quickly as Elissa sniped down the Zealots who were standing guard. It pained Zel'xol to see his fellow protoss to fall, but what could he do in the situation.  
  
"I know a place where we can get to some ships..." Zel'xol led them to a nearby Warp Gate. He walked in weary that he may have to take down his own kind. He walked up and to his suprise, the person powering the structure was no other than Milz'el. The situation was so ironic that he froze in his footsteps not uttering a single word. "Wha..", Milz'el was going utter until Elissa decloaked and aimed her rifle at Milz'el, firing immediately. Zel'xol not even thinking, ran infront and took the bullet to save her. Milz'el was about to sound the alarms when Zel'xol grabbed her and begged her not to. Milz'el was terrified as three terrans appeared behind Zel'xol. "These are my friends", Zel'xol muttered as he was severly wounded. "What are you doing!!!", Elissa frantically asked. "oh my God", Melinda ran towards Zel. She pulled out her med kit. "Don't touch him!!!", Milz'el screached. Illiawile didn't know what to do, he almost just wanted to whack them all over the head, if only he had his wand right now.   
  
Zel'xol stood straight up, "I can explain everything to everyone... just please calm d..." He fell down again as even his concentration skills and training were betrayed by his physical state. "Please let me help you...", Melinda begged. "I don't need help..." Even Zel'xol carried the prejudice of being cured by a terran. "These are my friends please help them...", he pleaded once again to the still horrified Milz'el. "Don't you remember, the time back..." "Doesn't it remind you."  
  
Milz'el became calmer as she knelt down now, somehow becoming totally oblivious of the situation at hand. She smiled, and knelt down to be close to Zel'xol. "You saved me then... just like now." Milz'el reminisced.   
  
"Yes... and those years after that."   
  
"We pledged on that crystal that we'd always remember..."  
  
Zel'xol was becoming more and more distant. This made Melinda severely worried. "Don't be so selfish!!!!!!", Melinda scolded Zel'xol as if he were an eight year old child. Zel'xol was taken aback by the sudden outburst from this often soft spoken terran. At this point Melinda had disregarded everything else, and began treating Zel'xol. "It won't work...", Zel'xol pleaded. Milz'el was about to interfere.. until Elissa stopped her.  
  
"Don't even think about it...", Elissa spouted the cliche line while the true weight of the words lied in the rifle she had in her arm.  
  
The two faced each other like two women that should never be left alone in a room would. However, the tension broke a little as Zel'xol was getting unconscious and mumbling. "So it did mean something..." Milz'el looked at Zel'xol and gave him a look that told him that indeed it did.   
  
Zel'xol went unconscious and many things spilled in his head.. his memories, his friends, and Milz'el. But he was slowly being slapped back to harsh reality as he felt warmth enter his body, and a comforting touch. It was strange how comforting it was, the way Melinda was tending to him. Zel'xol realized then that no matter how different another living organism can be, it doesn't take away from the bond you can share with them.  
  
At this he got up, strong once again, "We've wasted valuable time"  
  
Milz'el looked at Melinda and whispered a gentle "thank you". Milz'el now knew why Zel'xol had always wanted her to learn the terran language with him, and why he was so focused on their culture.  
  
But it was time to go now... "Can you get us some ships?" Zel'xol inquired of Milz'el  
  
I have 4 corsairs, it will be less suspicious since they're sent out to patrol all the time.   
  
"I'm glad we get to say goodbye the right way", Zel'xol emotional one last time.  
  
"Yes", a simple yes, that revealed all the truths of that complex emotion. 


	10. the eyes of a necro - ending

Chapter 10 The eyes of a necro ( ending )  
  
The four corsairs lifted off... "What should we do now?", Elissa questioned.  
  
"We're going to get our home back", Zel'xol said casually...  
  
"HOW?", all voices echoes at Zel'xol as they struggled to pilot the corsairs.  
  
"You'll see" was the only response afforded back to them, "follow me"  
  
Zel'xol programmed his plane to head towards the space, while he jumped off and boarded melinda's plane. To her surprise and relief, Zel'xol was now piloting her plane. The three corsairs then sped towards their carrier which they had now called home. The decoy corsair attracted the protoss forces while they programmed the corsairs on a suicide mission to take out and distract the cannons that had been guarding their carrier. Stealthily they boarded their ship and sped off without attracting alot of attention.   
  
Zel'xol looked back, and thought to himself, "this went too well according to plan." It seemed that there was too little resistance to them leaving. He would soon know the reason why. He looked back staring over the shipyard where he had just left his past... Suddenly, the shipyard exploded. A large group of battlecruisers and wraiths emerged in sight and on radar. The entire protoss squad appeared burning in the horizon trying to prevent their city from being destroyed. None of this seemed to matter now to Zel'xol, he simply watched the flames and felt the hatred burn deep inside him. His eyes revealed the true sadness only the eyes of a stoic warrior could express.  
  
He got unto one of the corsairs despite efforts from his crewmates to try to contain him. Reason no longer mattered, this was his homeland, and his people, no matter what happens. Furthermore, He had just lost the last source of joy in his memories. He rushed towards the terran fleet with a veracity unseen of a corsair pilot before.   
  
His friends bravely followed after him in a corsair and two interceptors. Illiawile unleashed multiple bone spirits to try to clear out the path to get to Zel'xol while cursing the terran pilots with decrepify to make give them more time to out-maneuver them. However, it was hopeless, a Yamato cannon had focused it's aim upon Zel'xol and his ship was clearly not going to hold up to the blast. Melinda heroically uses her ship to shield Zel'xol from the blast. In shock, Zel'xol saw Melinda's eyes through the cockpit of her ship, he saw a smile from her. The anger inside him faded away as he watched the most innocent and caring soul freed from this world.  
  
invisible tears rolled down the eyes of the broken warrior. He quickly followed Elissa and Illiawile back to the carrier, as he watched everything he had known be torn to shreds in the horrifyingly panoramic view of his homeland.  
  
There was silence for weeks on the carrier. Zel'xol became consumed by his misery, while Illiawile heard strangle and troubling calls and visions from his world more and more frequently. Elissa tried her best to cheer them both us but it seemed more and more that they were drifting into three different worlds.  
  
Illiawile woke up one day to a different silence, one which he was familiar with. He walked out of his room that day and straight into Zel'xol's. There he lay, the way he would be last remembered. There lay all the greatness and courage, "what a waste", Illiawile acceptingly said. Elissa helped Illiawile carry the warrior's death to a fitting funeral. They set him upon his interceptor and set him off into space.  
  
Elissa and Illiawile stood alone on the bridge, watching Zel'xol leave them forever.  
  
"We had a legend in our world, there lives a woman who leads great souls to through the passages of time. She saw so many come and go, yet she sat resolute in her strength, focusing on guiding the souls, even if the souls belonged to hell itself"  
  
"Was this woman alone in the end", Elissa simply stated.  
  
"yes"  
  
"Then I hate that legend", Elissa said it with such conviction that Illiawile  
had to become straightforward with her.  
  
"I have to go to where I belong as well"  
  
Elissa desperately tried to convince him to let go of the past. She starts  
talking about her life.. "I could be useful, she still have a nuke in the ship"  
She begins to show him how much he could still use her help.  
  
"Please...", Illiawile kissed Elissa at this point and casted a sleeping  
spell on her.   
  
Elissa began to loose her grip on the world, she saw blurring images on Illiawile  
laying her on the ground and walking away. She muttered, "no...".. but she was  
fading away as she saw Illiawile wave his last goodbye.   
  
Illiawile knew what he had to do, he had to leave her now than later.  
It would hurt more later. He also knew that fate was calling him to  
a distant place. He grabbed his old tattered shield, as if picking up  
an aged childhood friend. He placed the shield next to Elissa,  
"may you finally get to rest", Illiawile stared at the sight.  
  
He went and grabbed the crystal that had been so precious to Zel'xol. "You  
will be the inspiration of my strength" Illiawile then suddenly got an idea. He placed the dark templar crystal on the nuclear warhead that Elissa had described to him. He took Elissa's rifle and headed off in the last corsair to the site where  
the voices in his head were coming from.  
  
He began reaching zerg airspace, blankets of mutalisks, scourges, overminds were actually parting a path for him. As if a welcome mat to their world. He landed his ship on the zerg planet and immediately casted all his minions. He walked suspiciously at all the parted zerg troops that eerily distanced themselves from him.  
  
Soon he reached the source of the calls and there lay the overmind. Illiawile was stricken by this even though he had been preparing for the worst.   
  
"What took you so long, I have a surprise for you." The overmind telepathically entered into Illiawile's mind.   
  
Then sprung out of the ground, the sorceress that he had so loved. She was  
now raised as an undead. Illiawile's fears were now confirmed, the eerie feeling  
he had been getting was the evil he had been so accustomed to in his dimension.  
  
"Do you like my present? You thought you sealed the two dimensions  
from ever entering each other again. You're a fool, there is more  
than one way to cross dimensions. The worldstone in your world  
has now been destroyed, thus, all you've done had been in vain!"  
  
Illiawile in anger and sadness aimed his sniper rifle at the overmind  
and activated the nuke while he ordered all his minions to attack the  
overmind. However, he suddenly felt a poisonous spike penetrate through  
his right chest. The undead sorceress had mortally wounded him.  
  
The overmind laughed as he controlled the sorceress like a puppet. Illiawile's  
minions crumbled as he lost his concentration to control them. The overmind  
laughed further as the red dot was still kept focused upon him. "You can  
do what you want, but nukes won't even lay a scratch on me", the overmind  
tortured Illiawile with this as it had the sorceress send another spike through  
Illiawile. Illiawile was fading away as he saw the nuke falling upon the overmind.  
He gathered enough strength to give one last smile to this sight... The overmind  
finally realizes that the nuke had been socketed with a dark templar crystal,  
but it was too late as he felt his mortality for the first time in its existence.  
  
Illiawile watched everything turn bright, saw the sorceress of his past  
finally set free. But the lingering thought, his last one, was  
that of a ghost soldier. One that would be alone, who would have to  
deal with both the evils of her world and now the evils of his as well.  
Was it all in vain? Then as the searing flame engulfed him, he saw Elissa's tears   
wash across his soul as he saw the image of her. He understood the answer,  
it was just the fate seen ahead by the eyes of a necro.  



End file.
